Rishi Sunak will be the UK’s next prime minister after Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the Tory leadership race in the final minutes before nominations closed
Sunak will succeed Liz Truss seven weeks after she defeated him in the previous Tory contest
The ex-chancellor gained the support of well over half of Tory MPs, with Mordaunt struggling to reach the 100 MP threshold
He will become the UK’s first British Asian PM and at 42, the youngest in more than a century
Labour have reiterated their call for a general .
Sunak was the only candidate after Penny Mordaunt pulled out just ahead of the 14:00 deadline.
Rishi Sunak will now take over as prime minister at an extremely difficult moment for the economy.
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We haven’t heard any detailed plans from him since the leadership campaign over the summer.
There will now be calls for him to provide clarity about how he intends to balance the books.
There will also be political pressure for a general election. Opposition parties want one and some Conservative MPs have said they think one is necessary now too.
But seven weeks after losing the Conservative leadership election, Rishi Sunak will now be handed the key to Downing Street.
He has a bulging and daunting in-tray.